Transcript English Lecture - Communication

TECHNOLOGY MILESTONES FROM THE CHEMIST’S VIEW
II. INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATIONS
Innovations in chemistry, engineering, and
electronics from the end of the nineteenth century to
today allow us to keep in contact from anywhere in
the world.
Our lifestyle of the humanity has changed radically
over the last century, from rural to urban life, from
education for the elite to education for the masses,
from agriculture to research work. The subsequent
flow of people, information, new ideas, and materials
has brought significant social change.
Numerous results from chemistry have contributed
to the development of many communication tools
that we need in order to capture, store, and
distribute information. Wireless communications and
fiber optics provide the foundation of our internet
society. Silicon chemistry and high-performance
polymers make today’s computer microprocessors
possible. Movies, television, and photography all rely
on chemistry to help preserve our memories.
Scientific achievements of chemists allow remote
family members to keep in touch with each other
from anywhere on the globe.
Chronology
II. 1. Communications Advances
The development of telephone
Wireless communications
Facsimile technology and xerography
Laser and fiber optics
II. 2. Computer Technology
Evolution of computers
Semiconductor technology
Silicon chips and integrated circuits
Monitor and display technologies
Information storage
Communications satellites
II. 3. Entertainment Developments
Movies
Television
Photography
II. 4. Innovations in Electronics
Evolution of consumer electronics
Advanced synthetic materials
Transistors
Technology Milestones in Information and Communications
Chronology
1876 Alexander Graham Bell completes the first telephone call.
1926 The Warner brothers make the first movie to synchronize music and audio effects.
1926 The first two-way voice conversation is transmitted across the Atlantic Ocean.
1927 Philo T. Farnsworth broadcasts first television image using a cathode ray tube.
1946 ENIAC, the first electronic digital computer, is put into operation. Since 1944 the Hungarian-born John von Neumann took
part in the modification of the mathematical-logical details of ENIAC.
1947 The transistor is invented at Bell Telephone Laboratories.
1955 Reynold Johnson develops the first disk drive.
1958 Jack Kilby of Texas Instruments invents the integrated circuit (IC).
1961 Silicon chips first appear.
1961 Telstar, the world’s first active communications satellite, is sent into orbit.
1961 The firm Eastman Kodak introduces the popular Instamatic camera with film cartridge.
1971 Intel company introduces its popular 4004 4-bit microprocessor for consumer use.
1977 Town Chicago tests the first commercial fiber-optic communications system.
1983 Cellular phones become popular after the automatic switching of wireless communications through a series of cells was
discovered.
1984 CD-ROM (compact-disc-read-only memory) is introduced along with its companion compact disc (CD) player.
II. 1. Communications Advances
The development of telephone
Since Alexander Graham Bell
invented the telephone in 1876,
it has become a cornerstone of
modern life by offering nearly
instant connections around the
world. The first two-way voice
conversation was transmitted
across the Atlantic Ocean in
1926,
and
commercial
telephone service (using radio)
began between New York and
London in 1927. AT&T launched
international telephone service
in 1935. Transoceanic phone
service was began to be
handled by submarine cables in
1956
and
since
1962
communications
satellites.
Today’s chemical engineers
have brought us from copper
wire to fiber optics, from
switchboards to satellites, and
from party lines to the Internet.
A. Graham Bell
II. 1. Communications Advances
Wireless communications
Cellular phones and pagers depend on
printed and integrated circuits, advanced
materials, and miniaturization techniques
enhanced by chemistry. AT&T Labs
developed mobile car telephones in the
1940s, but they were unpopular due to a
lack of communications channels. The
1980s brought a big breakthrough when
wireless communications were divided
into a series of cells that automatically
switched callers as they moved so that
each cell could be reused. Cellular phones
quickly became popular. Chemistry has
also played a role in the development of
rechargeable lithium-ion batteries in
cellular phones.
Switchboard
II. 1. Communications Advances
Facsimile technology and xerography
Although Arthur Korn, the German
inventor transmitted first pictures
electronically in 1902, the first
functioning fax machine debuted in
1924. It adapted telephone circuits for
picture
transmission
using
telephotography:
A
photography
transparency was scanned into
electrical signals that indicated the
shades of the image. This data was
transmitted by telephone onto a
receiving sheet of photographic
negative film and then developed in a
darkroom. In 1949, a xerographic
copier was introduced that allowed an
exact replica of an image to be made.
Chemical innovations in facsimile
technology include new toners and
inks, advanced paper technology, and
organic photoreceptor technology
were introduced in the 1970s.
Telephotography
II. 1. Communications Advances
Laser and fiber optics
The pure glass fibers that now provide the
infrastructure to carry information via laserproduced light in a revolutionary technical
achievement. Chemical researchers invented
the first optical fiber in 1970. Fiber optics were
soonfabricated and installed as integrated
components. The first lightwave system to
provide voice, data, and video service over a
network was installed in 1977 . Today, a single
fiber-optic cable can transmit millions of phone
calls, data files, and video images.
Installation fiber optics in
Chicago downtown (1977)
II.2. Computer Technology
Evolution of computers
Chemical engineering has fueled the computing
revolution and continues to make computers faster, more
powerful, and affordable. In 1939, the first electronic
computer is invented at Iowa State University.
Programmable calculators with binary numbers and
Boolean logic began to appear in the 1940s. In 1946,
ENIAC, the first electronic digital computer, goes into
operation, and the first minicomputer debuts in 1962. By
1971, the Intel Company introduced its popular 4004 4bit microprocessor for consumer use and the personal
computer market exploded. Today’s innovations continue
with transistors, silicon chips, integrated components,
data storage devices, and advanced materials.
John von Neumann and the
ENIAC
II.2. Computer Technology
Semiconductor technology
Chemistry makes it possible to transform silicon and
germanium into semiconductors to power today’s
computers, appliances, and communication devices.
Semiconductors, as opposed to metals, are a class of
materials that increase their conductivity at elevated
temperatures. These semiconductors are further
treated to create an excess or lack of electrons.
Computer chips and integrated circuits are made
from semiconducting materials. Semiconductors
electronic components to be smaller, faster, and more
energy-efficient. Chemists in the semiconductor
industry provide quality control of components,
optimization
processes,
troubleshooting,
and
innovations to microelectronic devices.
A p-type semiconductor
(lack of electrons)
An n-type semiconductor
(excess of electrons)
II.2. Computer Technology
Silicon chips and integrated circuits
In 1947, researchers John Bardeen, William
Shockley, and Walter Brattain demonstrated
that the flow of electricity through silicon could
be selectively controlled. The subsequent
creation of silicon chips, integrated circuits, and
microprocessors make possible today’s highspeed, efficient computers. Silicon chips (1961)
consist of transistors, resistors, capacitors, and
memory chips built in layers on silicon wafers,
then exposed to a multi-step chemical process.
In 1967, the first hand-held calculator is built
using an integrated circuit, a small electronic
device containing many transistors and other
electronic components. In the 1980s, integrated
circuits are applied to computers.
Silicon chip
The first
integrated circuit
II.2. Computer Technology
Monitor and display technologies
Dramatic improvements have been made
in computer display technology in recent
years. High-resolution color graphics
screens are mainly based on the
television’s cathode ray tube. Alternate
display technologies include flat-screen
displays for laptop and notebook
computers. Liquid crystals displays (LCD)
based on organic chemicals were invented
in 1969. Subsequent developments include
thin-film transistors liquid crystal display in
which each picture elements is driven by its
own individual transistors. Chemists have
developed liquid crystal materials, color
filters, polymer alignment layers, moldedplastic light distribution sheets, and plasma
display technology.
Camera Obscura
II.2. Computer Technology
Information storage
Early disk drive
Information must be recorded so that it can be
retrieved at a later time if it is to be used and
manipulated fully. Chemical innovations have
ensured that the media for such recordings has
remained
high-quality,
easy-to-use,
and
inexpensive.
Breakthroughs
in
recording
capabilities (higher resolution, faster speed, and
color), photographic films, magnetic audio
recordings, and digital imaging have also
brought advances in recording devices. In 1955,
Reynold Johnson, an American inventor and
computer pioneer developed the first disk drive
to store computerized data. Many subsequent
advances have been made, especially with
computer disks, magnetic tapes, and CD-ROMs
(1984).
II.2. Computer Technology
Communications satellites
Until the 1960s, voice communications
between North America and other continents
were very expensive. In 1962, Telstar, the
world’s first active communications satellite,
was sent into orbit. Chemistry provided the
structural materials (metal alloys, plastic, and
other advanced materials), computer and
electronic components, and the fuel
technology necessary to launch these
satellites. Communications satellites played
a major role in expanding both international
and domestic long distance calling and
television transmission until the 1990s.
Today, communications satellites play an
increasing role in television transmission,
including direct broadcasts to home satellite
dishes with digital television.
Telstar
Manufacturing of
GPS satellites
GPS satellites on
orbit
II. 3. Entertainment Developments
Movies
In 1927, The Jazz Singer became the first
feature-length movie to synchronize
singing and dialogue. By the late 1930s,
processes of the firm Technicolor had
been refined and the first color features
were a big draw. The chemistry of film
required a series of breakthroughs
involving
basic
materials,
different
chemical solutions, and exposure to light.
The showbill of the first feature-length
movie, The Jazz Singer, with
synchronized singing and dialogue
II. 3. Entertainment Developments
Television
In 1926, the Scotman John Logie Baird
displayed television publicly for the first
time in London, using a mechanical
television system, the Nipkow disc,
patented in 1883. By 1927, Philo T.
Farnsworth had transmitted the first
television image using cathode ray tube
(invented in 1897). The next twenty
years was the era of the vacuum tube in
electronics, and chemistry contributed
the unique materials for electrodes and
control elements within the tube. By the
1950s, many innovations were made,
including the integrated circuit (1958).
The following decades brought solidstate imaging devices, miniaturization,
and varied electronic improvements.
The Nipkow disc and its inventor Paul Nipkow
Philo T. Farnsworth and
the cathode ray tube
II. 3. Entertainment Developments
Photography
Photography
and
films
technology enable us to record
the most important experiences
and people in our lives.
Chemistry developed the film for
all types of cameras with
breakthroughs involving basic
materials, different chemical
solutions, and exposure to light.
Battery improvements have also
contributed to the popularity of
the camera, including the 1950s
alkaline manganese batteries for
small cameras with built-in flash
unit. Being able to manipulate
film, electronics, and batteries
led to the 1963 introduction of
Eastman
Kodak’s
popular
Instamatic camera with film
cartridge, which sold over 50
millions by 1970.
Kodak-Instamatic
II. 4. Innovations in Electronics
Evolution of consumer electronics
Electronic materials and microelectronic devices
are the heart of countless modern products,
such as CD players, televisions, computers,
digital cameras and wireless devices. From
vacuum tubes to transistors to integrated
circuits, chemical engineers have made
electronics smaller, more powerful, energyefficient, and cheaper. New materials, processes
for producing highly purified materials, and
processes for building semiconductors have
resulted in components, such as transistors and
integrated circuits, which can be assembled into
complex electronic circuitry to provide new
capabilities to a wide range of electronic devices.
II. 4. Innovations in Electronics
Advanced synthetic materials
Consumer electronics, cellular phones, and
personal computers rely on though, durable,
non-conducting plastics to protect sensitive
electronic components. Plastics are essential
in electronic applications because of their
insulating properties; the flow of electrons
that make up electrical currents cannot
readily
penetrate
plastics’
molecular
structures. By manipulating the structures of
molecules and creating new ones, chemists
and engineers produce new materials that
are both strong and flexible. These advances
have improved impact resistance, reduced
the total weight of equipment, and reduced
the cost of consumer goods.
II. 4. Innovations in Electronics
Transistors
It was the tiny, reliable electronic
component called a transistor that
enabled the marriage of computers
and communication more than any
other single development. In 1947,
John Bardeen, Walter Brattain, and
William
Shockley
invented
the
transistor, and it gradually replaced the
bulky, fragile vacuum tubes that had
been used to amplify and switch
signals. The transistor and the
subsequent integrated circuits (that
contains millions of transistors) served
as the foundation for the development
of modern electronics. By 1954, the
wildly popular transistor radio was
introduced, and by 1958, an American
electrical engineer, Seymour Cray
developed a transistorized computer.
The first transistor
The inventors of
transistor